Beyond Good & Evil | Sony PlayStation 2 | PS2
A contender for game of the year?
Believe it.
A photojournalist exposes a planet-ravaging conspiracy in Ubisoft's dazzling sci-fi adventure that fuses exploration with a world of minigames.
Michel Ancel's Rayman series has charmed platformer fans with imagination; now the Ubisoft creator turns his unique vision to an adventure that offers challenging gameplay and an engaging storyline. You'll play as Jade, a beautiful photojournalist who lives in a lighthouse that overlooks an island chain under constant attack by merciless aliens, the DomZ. Though your starting assignment is to take pics of local species, you'll soon join an underground resistance that believes that your planet's military, the Alpha Sections, is conspiring with the DomZ. You'll then sneak into a variety of secret facilities to photograph evidence. Stealth plays a large part in Beyond Good & Evil, but your adventure crosses into other genres as well--platforming, fighting, racing and camera-based exploration--as you venture one of the most diverse worlds on the Nintendo GameCube.
Features * Single-player adventure offering dozens of hours of gameplay * Cinematic experience that frames the action in a widescreen format * Wide range of minigames integrated seamlessly into the storyline * A controllable sidekick that helps you fight and solve puzzles
Jade isn't your standard-issue gun-totin' video game girlie; she's a well-drawn character who uses her brains as much as her brawn. You'll often use her stealth to evade detection, but when you're discovered, you can strike with Jade's dai-jo staff, or run, dive and somersault to avoid attacks. You'll also have a sidekick--Jade's half-swine uncle, Pey'j--who fights alongside you. Though he'll follow and fight automatically, you can trigger his special moves, which let you tap into Jade's special attacks. For instance, when you're surrounded by enemies, you can have Pey'j do a jet-boots-enhanced ground-pound, which throws foes into the air. Then, in slow-mo, you can bat an airborne enemy at a target with your staff--a cool, cinematic attack. You'll also use your sidekick to pull off simultaneous actions, like pushing two buttons or leaping onto a makeshift teeter-totter, that help you sneak past enemy defenses.
The versatile Jade also takes on many minigames that are woven into the story: You'll race her hovercraft through minefields, perform acrobatics to slip past lasers and play table games in a seedy tavern. Jade's primary talent, photography, is put to constant use. While you ferret out conspiracy evidence, you'll continue to photograph every species that you can find. Ubisoft lavishes so much attention on the feature that the game would work well as just a photo-exploration game, and it'd be a must-own for fans of the subgenre. Your first photo ops focus on small wonders, such as a softly gliding seagull, glowing fireflies that emerge at night and a melancholy half-goat girl. There are dozens of species, and many of them are hard to capture on film, either because a creature's attacking you or because your subject is difficult to find (like a giant mollusk that unfurls from a hidden nautilus).
Beyond Good & Evil takes place in Ancel's richest setting, a sci-fi world based on a fusion of global influences. The main city is like Venice, with architectural marvels that rise from the water, while the garage that upgrades your hovercraft is run by Jamaicanlike rhino-men, and the music that plays in walrus-man Ming-Tzu's shop is a Chinese melody blended with didgeridoo sounds. The game is very cinematic--not just in movie sequences, which feature an excellent script and voice talent--but also during gameplay, which remains in letterbox format. The widescreen effect makes for an epic experience, whether you're steering your hovercraft in pursuit of a DomZ sea serpent, witnessing Jade's horror as she discovers what's really stowed in the Alpha Section's military barrels or simply photographing a whale as it breaks the waves. Beyond Good & Evil is beyond standard gaming--it's an eye-opening experience.
Bottom Line
Beyond Good & Evil is a must-own for fans of story-driven adventures. But Michel Ancel has shot for the stars, daring to combine stealth, racing, platforming and much more in one game, and his sci-fi fusion has resulted in a lively world. Visit his endangered planet at your own risk--but do visit.
- Vendor: PlayStation
- Type: PlayStation Games
